Mother’s Day Gift Dilemma

Ordering a gift for your mom should NOT be this hard of a decision, but a bad customer service experience has me torn. 

Thanks to ordering flowers through a national retailer last week, I looked like the WORST big sister in history.  My little sister is kicking butt and taking names studying to be a PA at Ohio Dominican University.  Her birthday was last week and extremely close to finals week, so I thought instead of the normal card, Facebook post, text message and smoke signal most people get on their birthdays, I'd surprise her with some flowers.

I immediately went to a national retailer working with local florists to order a same day arrangement for her because I don't know who the best of the best florists in Columbus, OH are.  I picked out a super cute, martini themed arrangement for her BEFORE the deadline for same-day delivery in her time zone.  Boom, best sister ever right?  WRONG.

I was shocked when I got a text from my dad at 6 PM asking if I seriously hadn't wished my little sis "happy birthday yet."  She NEVER got the flowers?! Sure enough, they weren't delivered until the morning after her birthday but she never found them outside, near or anywhere around her apartment.

I called customer service and talked to a guy who claimed his name was "Jason" (trust me, this dude's real name was not Jason.)  He put me on hold for 15 minutes while he called the local florist they worked with to see if they'd been delivered.  That seems like a long conversation for the simple question, "were these delivered today or not?"

When the florist told him they had been delivered he gets back on the line with me and asks "Have you talked to your recipient to see if they received their arrangement?"  I was polite and said I had...but really, do you think I'm calling you for fun?  Obviously, I'm calling because my sister didn't get her flowers.  Another 8 minutes on hold passes and he says the florist insists they delivered them, but will make another arrangement and try to deliver it the next morning.  Not ideal, but I'm happy.

A few minutes later I get a voicemail from another rep saying the florist had delivered the flowers to a neighbor while my sister was out running errands.  Couldn't Jason have found that out in the 15 minutes I was on hold the first time? Luckily, my sister did get a really pretty arrangement in the end of the ordeal and I'm glad to see it looked almost identical to the one in the photo I chose it from.

The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth and now I'm wondering what I should do for my mom for Mother's Day.  I'm not sure I want to risk looking like a bad daughter a week after looking like a bad sister.  My mom still lives in my hometown in Ohio and I know which florist there is the best of the best, but it's pricy compared to the retailer I ordered my sister's flowers from.  Is the extra cash worth avoiding going through this again?